HipHopDose got a chance to talk to New York’s own Jaquae. Jaquae is a supporting cast member on seasons eight and nine of Love & Hip Hop New York. Although many know him from VH1 chronicling his love life on the famous reality show, he’s also a talented artist who’s responsible for a handful of hits on the radio as well as having a deep history of working in the music industry.
So HipHopDose is based in Miami. I know all of the tri-state area is familiar with who you are but for those that dont watch Love And Hip Hop, Who is Jaquae?
OK OK Jaquae started back in 2007. I came up with a group called the Hood Presidents and we was signed by Jermaine Dupri. It was right after “Chicken Noodle Soup” and you know I wanted to learn more about the business so I joined the Bad Boy street team. I started working with artists such as Day 26, Danity Kane, French Montana, Janelle Monae, Nicki Minaj and the list goes on. I did a lot of promotion. You know grass roots for those artists. Then I became a hype man for an artist named Fred Da Godson from the Bronx,New York. I was touring all over the place with him Japan, all over the place you know and of course you know he was like ‘Yo Jaquae quite honestly I think you should focus on yourself as an artist because of the way you be turning up my shows and everything like that I think you should drop a record and not only that but the way you be coming with melodies and stuff. I think it’s your time’. So what I did was I got in the studio, I dropped the record and it was called “Big Booty Judy” and it was the strip club anthem. Everybody was so turnt up when this record came on and mind you I would be standing on the bars and I’m not giving a f*ck about anything. So that record got really popular on the East Cost then I dropped another record that got me my first movie placement for Lions Gate with Keanu Reeves and Big Daddy Kane. The movie is called “Exposed” and it’s on Netflix and everything right now. I dropped another record, got signed to E1 then of course ‘knock knock’ Love And Hip Hop is at my door. Of course I agree and I do what I do and I start putting my people on.
That leads to something I wanna talk about and it’s something that I think is really important for a lot of your fans reading this. I want you to explain, especially from your perspective, the importance of putting people on.
I mean it’s very important because you out here of course grinding and doing your thing but like you cant do it by yourself. It takes a team you know what I’m saying like you can’t be your own manager, you can’t be the flyer guy, you can’t be the promoter and the artist. You can’t be the everything all at once. It’s always good to put somebody in a position to take the weight off your back. I learned all this being around Puff Daddy you know what what I’m saying and just being around like all the major successful artists and also artists that’s not successful today and witnessing their wrongs and stuff. Just being a young goat you know what I mean and this is back in the day so it was all timing. Everything is timing you know. It’s all about the energy that you put towards it and if you go to the max of course the light will shine on you feel me.
So speaking of timing, you have a new single called “Oh Darling”. Who did you initially link with and how did this song come about?
Shout out to my brother Freshbeatz he been trying to get me in the studio for like two years. Of course I gave him the industry talk like ‘yeah I got I got you’ you know what I’m saying. So eventually he’s like ‘yo bro I’m in the studio right now and I need you in here working on some music with me’ and I’m like ‘ aight bet I’m not doing nothing right now I’ll come over’. Soon as I came over we knocked out at least like five records. He played the “Oh Darling” beat and I’m like ‘yo this joint is fire’. Then I was like ‘you know what, this could be like the same vibes as Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road’. I was like you know what, nobody is really in that lane right now’ and this guy is still in the top 10 to this day. So I been studying his moves and I’m a big fan of him so I was like ‘you know what, I should drop “Oh Darling” cuz it’s a vibe. We dropped it the next day and what happened… I started getting phone calls from labels and they like ‘whats up’ because this could be another hit record I could go back to.
You were raised in South Carolina correct?
Yeah I was born in Harlem but I was raised in South Carolina
So what was the main influence from music down there?
Awe man that crunk music man! Crunk Crunk Crunk! Cmon man! But I also liked that boom bap at the same time
Could you credit South Carolina for most of your versatility?
Awe yes thats a fact cmon man I used to be on the porch like a Hillbilly you know what I’m saying
So to wrap this interview up, whats next for Jaquae?
MORE MONEY AND MORE BUSINESS BABY!
